Mitch McConnell's deeply disingenuous call for Barack Obama to keep 'his mouth shut'

[babylonsister]

Last edited Tue May 12, 2020, 04:20 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/12/politics/mitch-mcconnell-donald-trump-barack-obama/index.html

Mitch McConnell's deeply disingenuous call for Barack Obama to keep 'his mouth shut'
Chris Cillizza
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 12:14 PM ET, Tue May 12, 2020

snip//

Look. There's a bunch of problems with what McConnell is saying. Let's go through them.

First -- and most importantly -- since we are on the topic of political traditions, it's long been a tradition that the current president doesn't personally attack the person who came before him.

snip//

Second, Obama made these comments -- he said the Trump response to the pandemic was "an absolute chaotic disaster" -- not in public but on a private call with former members of his staff and administration.
Yes, of course, Obama was aware his comments might leak. But it's an important distinction nonetheless. As a former president, he could have very easily sat for an interview with any network he wanted to offer a stinging critique of how Trump is handling the coronavirus crisis. Hell, he could have also addressed the fact that the current president is accusing him of organizing an illegal coup! Obama didn't do any of that. He gave his candid views about Trump's handling of coronavirus -- a view more or less shared by a majority of Americans in the new CNN poll, by the way -- to friends and staff.

Third, McConnell, who has been around politics for a very long time, should know better than to tell the first black president to keep his mouth shut. Even if McConnell meant nothing by it, it's not a good look.

Taken broadly, what McConnell is doing here is what Trump and his party have been doing for the last three-plus years: Shattering every possible presidential norm with glee while also demanding that political opponents adhere to those same norms. I've lost count at the number of times Trump expresses faux shock at the language used by one of his rivals even as he curses and impugns them without a second thought. Or demands that someone be fired for making a mistake or airing an incorrect claim even as he has racked up literally thousands of misstatements and falsehoods during his time in office.

more...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/12/politics/mitch-mcconnell-donald-trump-barack-obama/index.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Moscow Mitch didn't use the word "uppity" but he might as well have.

[coti]

10. It's not like telling someone to "keep their mouth shut" is particularly polite to begin with.

Whether racist or not, it's pretty disrespectful. And to a former President.

But these are the new norms of our society in the age of Trump. You can just go around screaming at people and insulting them and pulling guns and shooting and it's cool.

[babylonsister]

15. True. He's still an asshole and a redneck and a racist. nt

[Hermit-The-Prog]

18. I guarantee he was thinking it.

[Miigwech]

2. Cheap pet store turtles ... they always pissed in your hand when picked up

THAT'S MITCH!

[IADEMO2004]

3. Perfect!!!

[Doreen]

4. Oh mitchy, does the truth hurt you?

[spanone]

5. WHILE TRUMP IS ACCUSING OBAMA OF A CRIME.........

[Cha]

6. I wonder how a private phone conversation did get leaked?!

Good points from Cillizza..

[babylonsister]

8. I've read there

were hundreds (?) of people on this call and it would have been a surprise if it wasn't leaked.

[Cha]

9. Oh.. lol TY!

[maxsolomon]

7. It's a perfect example of why McConnell is so good at GOP Senatoring.

Implying so much while saying so little; infuriating the opposition with shameless, divisive hypocrisy.

I won't miss him when he's gone; I just hope that's very very soon. November, to be precise.

You can do it, Kentucky. WTFU.

[coti]

11. Should Trump, himself, also have shut up about Obama while Obama was in office?

Should Trump have disqualified himself from running for President since he'd acted like an ass for years making up things to criticize Obama about? Why the hell does the order of things matter?

[Blue Owl]

12. Go play in traffic with sharp, rusty objects, Mitch

n/t

[lame54]

13. Because we know Trump won't have anything to say about Biden

[gratuitous]

14. Mitch just makes up whatever "political tradition" suits him at the moment

Presidents can't appoint Supreme Court Justices in their last year. Watch that "tradition" die a death swifter than Antonin Scalia if one of the Justices leaves the bench this year.

[Hekate]

16. The McConnell hypocrisy is enough to gag a goat. Can't somebody in the WH breathe on him already?

[Sugarcoated]

17. Hope Obama tells that traitor where to go

in the alwayd classy Barack Obama way, of course.